The St. John's University IMSD Program will continue to identify able underrepresented minority students and to provide them with the preparation and encouragement to proceed to careers in biomedical research. We will do this while testing the concept that intervening in the freshman year is more efficacious than doing so later in college. Our interventions will include intensive laboratory experiences on the St. John's campus; travel to and presentations at national scientific meetings; frequent meetings and workshops on campus to provide basic tools (presentation skills, writing, critical thinking, laboratory techniques); required research at laboratories off campus; and extensive career counseling. We will use formative evaluations to monitor the utility of each of the planned activities, and will develop a redesigned summative evaluation to assess more precisely the impact of our program on the participants' career goals compared to students who are not in the program. By raising awareness of biomedical research as a viable career option for underrepresented minority students we expect to attract more students of all ethnicities to this career track, and to raise student awareness of research on the St. John's campus. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]